Merriman and the French Invasion (The Merriman Chronicles Book 2)

by Roger Burnage

  There was a flurry of activity at the centre of the lancers and Captain Hall cantered towards Merriman and his party. “As you see Sir, we found them and followed to see where they went. Apart from a few with more fight in them than sense they are beaten men. The ones attempting to form square have only a few muskets and bayonets and must surely see the futility of their position. One charge downhill by my men could scatter them but I hesitated to order more bloodshed.”

  “That was a kind thought Captain, I’m in full agreement, but we must herd them together and disarm them. I don’t think there will be any trouble, look there, two men are coming towards us waving a white flag, they wish to parley or surrender. Anyway, I’ll leave all that to you, I must get back aboard my ship.”

  The boom of cannon caused them to look at Lord Stevenage. A puff of smoke showed where the cannon had been fired and Lieutenant Laing could be discerned on the quarterdeck looking through his telescope at Merriman’s party. Laing waved his arm and pointed to where seamen were manning a boat.

  “There we are Mr St James, they are sending a boat for us. We’ll keep well away from the French and go to meet it.”

  Leading their horses down the steep hill they reached the beach. The boat had seen them and changed direction towards them. As it grounded on the sand Midshipman Hungerford jumped out and raised his hat to Merriman. “Welcome back Sir,” He looked round at the rest of them, “Are the others following? Did the French invade?”

  “All in good time Mr Hungerford, all in good time.” He handed the reins of his horse to the groom. “You can take the horses back now, be sure to express my grateful thanks to Mr White and inform him that I shall take my ship round to Bantry as soon as I can. Right gentlemen, shall we proceed?”

  Chapter 19: Capture of a French Corvette

  “Good to see you back Sir,” exclaimed Laing with a big smile on his face as Merriman climbed aboard. Mr Andrews told us all about the way you beat the French, did you manage to catch that fellow Moreau?”

  “We certainly did and I’ll tell you all about it another time, but now I want to hear what you have been going on in my absence.”

  “Yes Sir. Well, as you can see, the ship is repaired and she is ready for anything. I sent a boat ashore with an old sail out of the transport so that the poor devils there could make some sort of shelter, but that done I kept the boats with me so as not to tempt any of the prisoners to try to escape, though I don’t think any of them would be capable of it. Mr Weston is still aboard the transport with a few men.”

  “Well done Mr Laing, and about the French corvette?”

  “The most interesting part Sir, if I may say so, when Mr Andrews came back with the men and I had nearly a full complement, we sailed down here yesterday at dawn. The French crew were working on the repairs and already had new spars up to replace the topmast and bowsprit, though not all the rigging was finished. She is aground as you can see Sir, on the shore with a kedge anchor out astern.

  We sailed past her and I called on them to surrender or I would fire. They didn’t reply, but a warning shot fired alongside soon changed their minds. I could see that they were in no position to fight so thought it best not to give them a broadside. The stern cabin and the after part of her gundeck are a shambles from our earlier encounter and most of the crew fled ashore.”

  “As you can see Sir, she is slightly canted to starboard and down by the bow. I think her cables must have parted in the gale and allowed her to drift ashore. Evidently she struck a rock and settled on sand and mud. The carpenter and the bos’n report that there is a small hole down at the turn of the bilge just below the waterline on the starboard side which they can patch at low tide and we could float her off.”

  “Excellent Mr Laing, you have done well and my report to the admiral will say so.”

  “Thank you Sir,” said Laing simply.

  “I wonder why they abandoned the ship without making a fight of it,” mused Merriman, “Was there no attempt to destroy her?”

  “No Sir, not as far as I know, but when we boarded her we found the captain and two of the officers dead. They’d been tied up in the ruined cabin and their throats cut. A strongbox had been smashed open and emptied. Maybe it contained money to pay the rebels.”

  “I expect you’re right Mr Laing. Probably the crew panicked when you approached and stole the money hoping to get ashore and join the fleet which they expected to be in the next bay. Of course they didn’t know that there was no fleet.”

  “Anyway they’ve been rounded up by our cavalry and some redcoats will be along soon to join them. We’ll have somebody go ashore and tell the army captain that some of his prisoners murdered their captain and officers and probably have stolen monies in their possession..”

  Merriman suddenly laughed out loud. “’Pon my word Colin, this cruise has been most rewarding. We caused two enemy transports to be destroyed, we captured Moreau and we now have two prizes to find crew for. Were any charts and documents found?”

  “Yes Sir, all the usual charts and a folder full of papers. I put them aside for you Sir.”

  Merriman walked up and down the quarterdeck a few times, tugging at his ear and thinking about what had to be done before sailing to Bantry Bay. He must make sure that the military could cope with all the able bodied prisoners who faced a long walk to wherever they would be incarcerated, and there were the wounded ones to be dealt with.

  Then there was the question of trying to refloat La Sirene. Well, no question at all really. The French corvette would be a valuable addition to the navy which was always short of ships. Besides, he owed it to the crew to bring the ship off, they would all welcome the prize money.

  His mind made up, he turned to the First Lieutenant and the marine officer who were waiting for orders. “Gentlemen, this is what we will do. Mr St James, will you go ashore again and speak with Captain Hill. Tell him of the murder of the French officers and then ask him if he is content to take the able bodied prisoners back with him, and then see how many wounded will need to be transported by ship. When the number is known go and see Mr Weston aboard that first ship we captured and have him make arrangements to receive them. Mr Weston can take command of her with a reduced crew and a few marines to keep an eye on the prisoners. We’ll take them to Bantry and hand them over to the military to look after. See to it please Edward, while I go aboard La Sirene to see what needs to be done.”

  Climbing aboard the French corvette Merriman was greeted by a grinning Lieutenant Andrews. “She’s a fine ship Sir, we can have her afloat again in a couple of days. The carpenter is below with a working party to try and fix a temporary patch over the hole whilst the tide is falling, and I was planning to move all the forr’ard guns to the stern to lighten her forr’ard to bring the hole up to where we can put a more secure patch over it.”

  Andrew checked his enthusiasm for a moment, “That is, with your approval Sir?”

  “Of course Mr Andrews, of course. And I see that the bos’n has men trying to replace the bowsprit we smashed, what is the story there?”

  “Well Sir, the Frenchies had made a very good start on the job of replacing the fore topmast with a spare mainyard, in fact it only needs to be swayed up into position and secured. All the stays and yards are ready, but we will need some more time to complete it Sir. The bowsprit is another matter, the French tried to use one of the tops’l yards but the bos’n is of the opinion that it won’t be strong enough and there is no suitable spar available to replace it, so I was wondering if I could take one of the spares off our ship Sir.”

  “Yes, that seems to be the best solution, take the bos’n with you and have one towed across. I’m going below to see how the patching is going on.”

  Down below, in the gloom of the hold Merriman found a bedraggled working party waist deep in icy water hammering at timbers wedging beams into place to secure a hastily contrived wooden patch. The carpenter saw Merriman and waded toward him.

  “Nearly done Sir, I’ve folde
d an old sail into a sort of pad and put it behind the patch. I think it will hold until we can lift her and get a patch on the outside. Mr Andrews is having the forr’ard guns moved aft and to larboard so when we pump her out the hole should be just about above water and I can finish the job.”

  “Excellent Mr Green, You and your men have done well. As soon as you are satisfied with the work we’ll pump her out and kedge her off.”

  Kedging her off meant exhausting work for the crew. First of all, anchors had to be taken out and laid astern of Lord Stevenage to hold the ship steady. Then a cable had to be run out of a hawsehole at the stem and secured to the French ship which itself had a kedge anchor out astern.. As the tide rose the ship rose with it and with the men at the capstans keeping a strain on the cables she floated off as easily as a duck taking to the water.

  It took the two days as Andrews had predicted but at the end of that time La Sirene floated in deep water again, ready to sail anywhere. A small amount of water still found its way into the bilge but a brisk half hour of pumping twice a day would keep it under control.

  Meanwhile Lieutenant Weston had brought his shipload of wounded men to anchor near to the frigate and her prize and reported to Merriman.

  “All ready Sir, We lifted all the dead horses out of her and sluiced the hold down with seawater and pumped her dry.” He paused and looked apologetic as he continued, “I used some of the able bodied French prisoners off the beach to do most of that Sir, I thought that as they’d killed the animals they should clear up the mess.”

  “Well done Mr Weston, how many have you aboard now?”

  “Thirty five Sir, some of the wounded died. I had the French bury their dead up behind the beach, there where you can see that rough cross. I gave them some of our materials to do it Sir, I hope that was in order.”

  “It was, the poor devils will have no other memorial.” Merriman became aware of Tomkins and O’Flynn trying to attract his attention. “Yes, what have you two reprobates to report?”

  “List of what we found aboard Sir as you ordered, shall I read it out?” asked Tomkins.

  At Merriman’s nodded assent he continued, “Sir, we found five more field pieces and over an ‘undred boxes of powder cartridges made up ready for them, an’ ‘undreds of shot Sir, mostly canister and grapeshot with roundshot as well.”

  He paused to draw breath. “Yes, yes, go on man” said Merriman impatiently.

  “Yessir, there are fifty kegs of salted meat, forty bags of biscuit and a few water barrels with contents intact A lot of barrels had been smashed open. Nothing else of value Sir, apart from the usual bos’n’s stores, unless you count these Sir.”

  He indicated the large bundle which Merriman had noticed O’Flynn holding very carefully.

  “All right, don’t keep me in suspense, what else have you found?”

  “Two dozen bottles of French wine Sir, in a locker in the main cabin. Lucky we found them before the other rogues aboard. And then there’s these Sir, papers and charts out of the captain’s cabin. Mr Weston kept the charts he thought he might need and told us to bring the rest to you Sir. He said they was charts of the French coast and ports”

  “Charts and papers eh! Maybe there is something to be learned from them. Put them all in my cabin.” French charts could be invaluable to the Admiralty cartographic department.

  “Yessir, and the wine?”

  “My cabin too. I expect you’ve sampled it already haven’t you?”

  “Well Sir, Mr Weston took one and there was one bottle that got the top knocked off, accidental like, and we thought we should try it to see if it was fit for you to drink Sir.”

  “Say no more,” said Merriman trying to keep the smile of his face, “get below the pair of you.”

  On the evening of the second day, Merriman called his officers to his cabin.

  “Gentlemen, may I interest you in a glass of some rather good wine Tomkins liberated from the French captain’s cabin? Legitimate spoils of war. Peters, see to it please.”

  When all had a full glass Merriman proposed a toast. “I think congratulations are due to us all, officers and men for our success. Here’s to our ship Lord Stevenage.” He raised his glass and drained it and the others did likewise.

  “Now then, this is what we’ll do tomorrow at first light. Mr Laing, you will command the corvette and Mr Andrews will remain with me as First Lieutenant. Mr Weston, you will take the transport ship ---- What’s her name by the way?”

  “Something unpronounceable Sir” replied Weston, “so the men have taken to calling her The Fat Frog.. I didn’t stop them Sir, it seemed quite harmless.”

  There was a roar of laughter from the others and Merriman, said with a smile “The Fat Frog it shall be then. All right, we’ll proceed round to Bantry Bay to pick up the rest of our men. Mr Laing and you Mr Weston will have to manage with skeleton crews as I must keep enough men here to fight the ship if we are unlucky enough to encounter any more French. Our speed will be limited to that of Mr Weston’s Fat Frog. Do the best you can Mr Weston, and I will keep to seaward of you both to screen you. After we leave Bantry, subject to Mr Grahame having nothing more for us to do, I think we might hope to return to Portsmouth.”

  Chapter 20: Triumphant return with two prizes to Bantry

  Sailing up Bantry bay with his small squadron under his lee, Merriman experienced a thrill to see the other ships flying the ensign over the French tricolour which indicated that they were prizes.

  “With the two ships and the stores in the hold of the Fat Frog, there should be a fair bit of prize money I shouldn’t wonder Sir,” said Lieutenant Andrews, rubbing his hands together. “And no other King’s ship near to share it with either.”

  After the ships had been safely anchored Merriman had himself rowed ashore. He was desperate to see if Owen had recovered and to find out what had happened at Bantry House whilst he had been away. A welcoming party comprising Mr Grahame, Lieutenant Goodwin and Mr Mc’Bride the doctor, met him on the small jetty below the house. Hovering behind Grahame was the tall figure of Moreau the Frenchman.

  “You’ve been busy Sir, congratulations, all has gone well with you I trust,” were the first words spoken by a smiling McBride, raising his hat to his captain.

  “Indeed yes,” he replied “and how is everything here?”

  “Well enough Sir. The army marched the prisoners away, all except the more seriously wounded who are guarded in the coach-house.”

  “And Owen, my cox’n, what of him?”

  The doctor glanced at the others then took a deep breath. “I’m sorry Sir, he’s dead. He died shortly after you left to rejoin the ship Sir. I did my best but I couldn’t save him.”

  Merriman stared almost uncomprehendingly at the white face of the doctor, as thoughts raced through his mind. Owen, the man who had guarded his back through many a desperate fight, who was always there when needed, his shadow, gone, dead, and himself not there at the last. He recovered himself to see that the doctor was still standing in front of him with a look almost of terror on his face.

  “It’s all right Mr McBride, I’m sure you did all that could be done,” he said quietly, gently touching him on the shoulder. “But damn it, I shall miss that man.”

  “I know Sir, he’d been with you a long time. But he was lucid before he died and wanted to be sure that you knew that it was Mr Dorrington who had shot him and tried to kill you. I think he was content at the end Sir. We buried him in the little churchyard nearby.”

  “I take it that you gentlemen know about this matter?” said Merriman turning to the others.

  “Yes Sir, The doctor called me in at the end in case Owen had more to say and of course you now have me as another witness to his last words, his deathbed statement if you will,” replied the marine lieutenant.

  “Yes James, I was a witness as well and there is more you should know, but may I propose that we move into the house away from this devilishly cold wind?” said Mr Grahame.

&nb
sp; Once settled in the warmth from a roaring fire in Mr White’s house and with a glass of mulled wine in hand, Merriman looked round the serious faces in front of him.

  “Well then, what more is there I should know,” he demanded harshly.

  Grahame gestured to Moreau, who spoke up. “Captain, I saw all that happened the night you were captured. I was in the stable and I know it was your midshipman M’sieur Dorrington who struck you down. Also, I saw him shoot the other man that I now know to be your man Owen.” He paused, “It was I who hit M’sieur Dorrington from behind, but I could not save him from further harm at the hands or boots of the Irishmen.”

  “Why did you not say anything of this before M’sieur."

  “I did not wish to burden you with further problems. I thought that M’sieur Dorrington was going to die and had he done so, there would be no need to refer to the affair again, it would be over.”

  “I see. Mr McBride, how is Dorrington now?”

  “He regained consciousness a few hours ago. He’s very weak, but he is young and will recover fairly quickly. He has broken ribs and multiple cuts and bruises and he has lost two or three teeth, but from what Mr Moreau has told us it could have been a lot worse. He asked about you Sir, I simply told him that you had been attacked and taken prisoner also and that you had both been rescued when we caught Mr Moreau.”

  “I suppose it would have been better for him if he had died. As it is, he stands accused of murder and an attack on a senior officer. Both of these offences require him to face a court martial from which there can be only one result.”

  “What will you do with him Sir?” asked St James.

  “I believe there is no option but to confine him under guard, once he has recovered sufficiently. Meanwhile, no word of what we know should reach him in case he does something desperate. If he enquires about my Cox’n simply tell him that Owen was killed in the rescue. Are we in accord on this Gentlemen?”